Railway rolling-stock.



WMM woe a J. H. KERNS,

RAILWAY RLLNG STL APPLICATIQN FILED own, 1913.

Lj Patented Feb.3,1914;

, '1 .omino srarnsmrriran'r ore-ica,

JAMES H. KEARNS, or renners, americain.

RAILWAY .nonmnoereoie message.

To all 'whom it may concern .f

Be it known that I, JAMES H. Knamvs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Francis, in the county of Pontotoc and State ot Oklahoma, have invented certain new and` useful Improvements in Railway RollingSt'o'ck, of which the followin is a specification, referencebeing had to t e ac compahying drawings. n

I his invention relates to certain new useful improvementsl in railway rolling stock and has for its primary l'object to pro-v vide improved and 'novel means forfsup-- of the supporting meansfor the apron and the means for locking the said apron in scribed, claimed, and illustrated in the horizontal position.

With the above and other 'objects in view, my invention consists in certain novel constructions, combinations, and arrangements of parte to bel hereinafter more fully de- RC companying drawings, in which, l

Figure l is a side elevational view, partly in section, showing my device in use, portions of a locomotive andtenderbeing shown in dotted lines; Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. l, showing the parts of my invention slightly enlarged and indicating the. devicein raised position, bydotted lines; Fig. 3 is a detailsectional view on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2; 4and Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2. y

Referring more particularly to the drawi, in s l designates a ortion of a locomotive g i e P :which are pivoted 'th having the apron 2 hinged thereto along one longitudinaled e of said apron, while the opposite edge o said apron normally rests upon the sill of the tender 3 when the locomotive and tender arecoupled together.

Secured to the under face of the apron 2 are the de ending perforated eers 4 to e upper ends of the reciprocating rods (i by .means of the pivot Speenicaton of Letters Patent. Application and october ii, 1913.

ratto-tea serial ivo. fe/1,712.

pins 6 engaged throughsaid perforated ears` '4 and the flattened upper ends f the rods 5'. ThB'lOdS 5 upper cylindrical aaai,

are slidably engagedv in thel.

portions 'of the guidev members while A'the lower portions of said members 'i' are ilat'tened and 'pivoted to the out-turned ends 8 of the rook shaft 9, by the pivot pinsV 10, The rock shaft 9 also has a depending offset central portion, the plurpose of which will presently appear.

lVhen the rock shaft 9 is in normal posi` tion, the out-turned ends 8 thereof. are in a substantially horizontal position, therebysupporting the guide incmbersT in their iowermost positions and allowing fhg free longitudinal edge ot' the apron 21o assume .a position below the plane of the hinged longitlidinaledge 'of said apron, before the shoulders 5 of the reciprocating rods 5 engage against the upper ends of the guide members and thereby prevent 'further downward movement of the free longitudinal edge of the apron 2.

Should the locomotive andtend'er become imconpled while in motion` the U. shaped member il secured to the tender and en.- gaged around the depending central offset portion 9 'of the rock shaft 9 will canse said shaft 9 to rotate until the depending central odsetA portion 9 thcrejoi2 sition, owing to thefact tivemoves away from the tender, thedepending offset central portion 9 of the shaft against the central portion of the U shaped member 1l and will be com` pelled toassume a horizontal position before freeing itself from said Ushaped member ll. After the rock shaft 9 has been forced to rotate in this direction, downward n n u is 1n horizontal pothat as the locom'oi movement of the free longitudinal edge of the apron 2 is prevented, owing that'the lower endsof the guide members 7 are forced against the faceof the locomotive and the lower flat portions of said guido members 7 are in a substantially' vertical position while the upper cylindrical portions thereof are' inclined outwardly.

to the fact It will be understood that While thelocomotive and the tender are in motion, the apron 2 will be free to raise and lower when sai engine and tender are passing' over lioints, owing to the fact that the reciprocating rods 5 are free to reciprocate wit 1n the cylindrical upper portions of the guide y members 7.

uneven portions of the track or over the rail i From the foregoing it will be clearly apparent'that I have provided improved and novel means for supporting the apron ern-- ployed covering the space between a locomotive andtender or between two cars, and it will further be apparent that should the locomotive and tender or cars between which the apron is positioned be accidentallyuncoupled, the apron will be automatically raised to a substantially horizontal position `and locked in said position, thereby eliminating all danger of one longitudinal edge of the apron falling down and allowing the train man standing on the apro' to drop between the cars. -It will also be clearly apparent that this device may be readily and cheaply applied to locomotives and tenders or cars now in general use without 'altering the construction of the same and will be highly efficient and ef'jctive in use.

While I have shown'the preferred ern-bodb ment of my device, it will be clearly appar'- ent that minor changes in the details of construction and arrangement of parts may,

, prising the combination with a locomotive and tender,- of an apron having one`longitudinal edge hinged to the locomotive while `clined .cylindrical portions, rods secured to' the under face of the apron and slidably engaged 'in the cylindrical portions of the Y its opposite longitudinal edge normally rests upon the tender, means for limiting downward movement of the last mentioned longitudinal edge of the apron, and means for raising the last mentioned longitudinal edge of the apron and locking the same in raised position upon uncoupling of the locomotive and tender. v y i 3.' A deviceyof the class described comprisingthe combination with a locomotive and tender, of an apron hinged to the loco-v4 motive and engaged upon thetender, 'arock shaft having a depending portion' andi. outturned portions, guide members-secured to the out-turned portions ofthe Avroch: shaif said guide members having outwardly 'i guide members,V said rods 'having shoulders for engagement against the upper ends of the cylindrical portions of the guide members to limit downward movement of the apron, means for mounting the rock shaft upon the loco-motive, and means carriedby the tender for engagement with the depending portion of the rock shaft to compel said depending portion to assume a horizontal position and thereby cause rocking movement of the rock sha-ft upon uncoupling of the locomotive from the tender, whereby the apron will be slightly raised above its normal position and locked in said raised positio In testimony whereof I hereunto aiiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses. JAMES H. KEARNS. Witnesses:

W. R. THRELKELD, S. N. ROGERS.

' Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner ofv Patents.

" Washington, D. C. 

